GOOD DRIVING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 25, 30 January 1934, Page 16

GOOD DRIVING.

BORN OF INSTINCT.

REACTION IN EMERGENCY. NECESSITY OF TIMING. What precisely makes good driving? It is certainly not mere experience, for many of the 100,000-mile motorists, whose experience has heen acquired over a period of many years, are not among the best drivers. Nor is it fast driving, nor slow driving, nor any other particular kind of driving. It is driving with intelligence and imagination, consideration and rigorous self-control.

Good driving can he acquired in a short time by the man born to it, or, perhaps, never by the man whose outlook, temperament or natural gifts preclude him from being known to his friends as a . good driver. Experience can help him to improve his ability, instruction can eliminate faults, but unless he has that sense and touch which seem to be born of instinct, it seems that he can never drive spontaneously well.

The one essential for good driving is a quick reaction in an emergency, and every driver has his own limit in tha speed with which he can see, think and act. The impulse is first received from the sense of sight or hearing. This nervous impulse is conveyed to the brain, a decision is made and another impulse transmitted to the arm or legs. Safety in an emergency depends upon the time which this reaction takes. The man who can act quickly tends to be the safe driver. A short reaction period is recognised as being the most fundamental of all the requirements for good driving, and serious attempts have been made from time to time to establish tests based

upon the human "time lag." Lack of sleep and the effects of alcohol are two factors which would possibly increase the reaction period to a dangerous extent.

Intelligence and imagination arc, in some degree, allied human qualities, and a combination of them is necessary in order to visualise danger and to avert disaster. A shadow cast by the sun will indicate the presence of another car at a corner, and a general sense of awareness and the ability to draw an inference will bring to the driver's notice the fact that a railway mjiy cross the road half a mile ahead and make him prepared. Similarly, a view of distant telegraph poles may indicate an unexpected turn of the road. Observations of this kind are purely a question of training, so that any driver who lacks the ability to make them can develop that ability by systematic and sustained effort.

Apart from the safety and consideration that driving well implies, a feeling for the well-being of the car is also involved. To a certain extent this is a question of mechanical knowledge, but the last polished touches are only within tho reach of the driver who has an ear for the changing note of the engine and an ability to "time" his movements; the same co-ordination of mind and action which is so necessary in ball games, such as cricket or tennis. This, again, can be developed by practice, but in some instances tho complete lack of sense of harmony makes many drivers habitually awkward in handling their cars, and awkwardness is the cause of lack of confidence.

Confidence is, of course, a very necessary requirement for good driving. With confidence comes the ability to do many things we'll, but over-confidence , only leads to the taking of risks. It is because of their inability to distinguish between confidence and risk that many drivers are prevented from being really safe or really good. Balance and a sense of judgment are vital requirements, and an ability to criticise one's own actions is indispensable for the highest standard of driving.

This same ability to criticise oneself frankly, making no allowances, is, perhaps, the most important attribute, for, by knowing his own limits and by knowing exactly .the standard of driving of which his qualities make him capable, a driver will contribute vastly to the cause of safety.